Dubai: Sharjah’s biggest developer Arada is allowing all property buyers in its three projects to change their 100-year leasehold rights to full freehold titles. This will be done after getting the required approvals from the Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department.
Recently, Sharjah extended freehold rights to property owners in select investment zones, and this applies across nationalities and even for non-residents. “This landmark decision to allow freehold ownership for all nationalities enhances still further Sharjah’s positioning as a prominent and global investment destination,” said Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, Group CEO of Arada. “It will spur further domestic and foreign direct investment into the emirate.”
Sharjah's property market could be the one to watch out for in 2023, as the full-year benefits from the freehold rights flow in. Throughout 2022, the market has been pulling in a diversified buyer demographic, but the feeling was that getting the rights for outright ownership will be a gamechanger. This is exactly what's happening now.
At Arada projects and those by other designated developers, new buyers will automatically be able to purchase homes on freehold basis, regardless of nationality. This could then be the trigger for more offplan launches next year.
The latest regulations follows multiple amendments to encourage wider investment into the Sharjah property market. These include a decision in 2014 to allow non-Arab nationalities holding a UAE residency visa to purchase property in certain locations within Sharjah on a 100-year leasehold basis, and then in 2018 removed the requirement for buyers to hold a UAE residency.
And with the latest decision, “We are already seeing the immediate effects on our sales, which reached a new monthly record during November," said Alkhoshaibi. "This will in turn encourage us to launch more projects and re-invest capital back into the Sharjah market, helping the local economy still further.”
